Safety manipulating device for machinery.



R.1.ALDR!CH. SAFETY MANIPULATING DEVICE'FORl MACHINERY.

APPLICATIONl FILED APR. l0, 1913*.

Patented Feb. 26, 1918.

ginvrinn sraTEs PATE FFEC .I

RALPH J'. ALDRICH, 0F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, SSIG'NOR T0 BENJAMIN ELECTRICMFG. COMPANY SAFETY MANIPULATING- DEVIC FOR MACHINERY.

Applicationled April 10, 1913.

To all lwhom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, RALPH J. ALDRICH, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented new and useful Im* provements in Safety Manipulating' Devicesfor Machinery, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, andexact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawing,forming a part of this specification.

My invention pertains to vsafety manipulating devices for machinery,that is, to devices for insuring safety to the operator in runningmachines which have to be intermittingly operated, as, for instance, inthe case of punch presses; and the invention relates especially to thatclass of safety manipulating device (disclosed, for instance, by Pat.No. 1,046,374 granted Dec. 3rd, 1912, to R. B. Benjamin) in which twomembers are employed both of which must be operated before the desiredeect upon the machinery can be produced. When, as is the most usualarrangement, the two members are hand levers, and the desired e'ect uponthe machinery is the tripping of the clutch of a punch press, it'will beseen that the necessity of operating both hand levers before the pressclutch can be tripped, effectually prevents the presence of the handsnear the press head when the latter descends. Accidents to the operatorare thus avoided. lt is the object of this invention to improve uponsafet manipulating devices of the character escribe'd above, byproducing a simple and durable device which will be more convenient inuse than has been the case in prior devices.

A safety manipulating device constructed in accordance with myinvention, as employed in connection with a punch press, is described,by way of example, in the following specification and shown in theaccompanying drawing, in which:

Figure l is an elevation of a punch press equipped with a safetymanipulating device, constructed in accordance with my inven tion- Fig.2 is a section of the press on the line 2 2 of Fig. l, disclosing a topview of the safety device;

Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1, showing a detail of thedevice; and

Fig. 4 is a section on the line 4 4 of Fig. 1, showingr another detail.

Specication of Letters Patent.

Fatented Feb. 26, 1918..

serial No. 760,304. i

This lever extends in a general horizontal direction to the forward endof the machine. On the end of shaft projecting from the other side ofthe frame is mounted a bell crank lever 16 having a boss 17 surroundingand rmly secured to the shaft by a set screw 18. Any angular movement ofthe lever 15 therefore causes a like movement of the bell crank 16. i

Adjacent the boss 17 of the bell crank lever 16 is a hand lever- 19which is loosely mounted on the shaft 12 and is retained thereon by acollar 2O secured to the shaft by a set screw 21. Integral with the handlever 19 is an inclined extension 22 similar in lenth, shape anddirection .to the rear arm 23 of the bell crank lever 16. rlhe eX-tension 22 and the arm 23 have, passing through them at their outerends, in a substantially perpendicular direction thereto, stems 24 and25 respectively. These stems carry coiled compression springs 26 and 27interposed between the arm 23 and extension 22 and nuts 28 and 29 on theends of the stems. The other ends of the stems are pivotally secured tothe machine frame by means of a casting 30 bolted to the frame, having alug 31 as a part thereof, and a pin 32 held in this lug and passingthrough eyes 33 and 311 formed in the stems. These. parts provide aconstruction whereby the hand lever 19, the bell crank lever 16 andthrough it the hand lever 15, are raised and maintained in that positionby the action of the springs and resist any downward pressure upon thelevers.

` The other arm, 25, of the bell crank lever 16 extends in the samehorizontal direction as the loosely mounted hand lever 19, and theirupper surfaces lie in the same plane. The arm 35 of the bell cranklever, however, does not extend to the forward end ofthe machine, butonly far enough to give an ample bearing surface to a stopv 36,extending in a horizontal crosswise direction and connecting with it.This stop also presses on the upper surface of the hand lever 19. Itisadjustably secured ony a clutch operating rod 37 which presses betweenthe bell crank lever arm and the hand lever. The upper end of this rodcontrols a clutch and the lower end is guided in an opening of a lug 38extending from the casting 30 above mentioned. A compression spring 39is mounted belly crank arm 35 topress upward on theclutch rod stop 36.Therefore, the rod is held in a raised position, unless externalpressure is exerted upon the hand lever 19 and the crank arm 35 throughits attached hand lever 15, to force them downward and overcome theaction of their springs. As either one of these springs is stronger thanthe clutch rod spring, the action of both must be overcome to allow theclutch spring to act and draw the rod downward.

It will be noted that as the hand lever 19 is only loosely mounted inthe shaft 12, any movement of the lever 15 will not be communicated toit; nor will any movement of the lever 15 cause a movement of the lever19. Both the lever 19 and the lever 15, through the bell crank levermovable with it, press upwardly on the stop of the clutch rod on accountof the action of their springs, consequently, depression of one leveronly will leave the other lever in raised position and contacting withthe stop on the rod; and, as each lever supporting spring is strongerthan the rod depressing spring, depression of both levers is necessaryto pera downward movement of the clutch The clutch is of that type wherea downward pull on the operating rod connects the driving shaft with thedriver and so puts the machine in operation. Therefore, when the handlevers are depressed, releasing the upward pressure on the stop on therod, the rod spring will draw the rod downward, putting the machine intooperation. As soon, however, as pressure on the hand levers, or eitherone of them, is removed, the lever springs raise them into engagementwith the rod stop and further lift them and the rod stop, andconsequently the rod, and so stop the machine.

It will be noted that it is immaterial whether the lever 15 or the lever19 is depressed irst, or whether both levers are depressed together, inorder to actuate the rod 37 and trip the clutch. This renders the deviceconvenient of operatifn. The device consists of relatively few parts andthere is nothing which is liable to get out of order under the ordinaryconditions of use.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

1. A safety manipulating device for machinery comprising, incombination, a clutch tripping member, means normally tending to actuatesaid member and a pair of operable devices each of which is adaptednormally to prevent the actuation of said meniber and said devices beingadapted to permit the actuation of said tripping member when both areoperated, said devices being spaced apart, for the purposes set forth,the construction being such that when both said devices are operatedsaid actuating means will automatically actuate the clutch-trippingmember. Y 2. The combination with a punch press, of a clutch trippingdevice therefor having a normal tendency to trip the clutch, means forrestraining said devlce in its non-tripping position comprising a pairof operable members each normally retaining said tripping device in itsnon-operable position, said device being permitted to move to itsoperable position only when both of said members are operated, theconstruction being such that when both of said members are operated saidclutch-tripping device will automatically act to trip the clutch.

3. The combination with a punch press having a clutch-tripping deviceassociated therewith, said clutch-tripping device comprising a trippingmember, a spring normally tending to actuate said tripping member, and apair of movable hand levers, one at each side of the machine, each ofsaid hand levers being provided with a spring of greater strength thansaid first-named spring, tending to prevent the actuation of saidtripping member.

Il. In combination, a punch press, a springpressed member, adapted, whenmoved by its spring, to actuate the clutch of the press, a pair ofmanually operable members each engaging said spring-pressed member, anda spring for each of said manually operable members, each of saidsprings being stronger than the spring of said clutch-tripping member,whereby movement of said clutch-tripping member is prevented unless bothof said manually operable members are operate 5. In combination, a punchpress, a clutchtripping rod having an abutment thereon, means normallytending to move said rod to trip the clutch, and a pair of manuallyoperable devices engaging against said abutment and each preventingmovement of said rod unless both are operated, the construc tion beingsuch that when both said manually operable ydevices are operated saidrodmoving means Will automatically move the rod to trip the clutch.

6. The combination with a machine having a part movable in a definitepath, of driving means therefor, means for connecting and disconnectingsaid movable part from said driving means, means tending to hold saidconnecting and disconnecting means in connecting position, and aplurality of independently movable means tending to hold said connectingand disconnect.- ing means in disconnecting position, the constructionbeing such that When said pluact to rality of independently movablemeans are moved said means tending to hold the connecting anddisconnecting means in connecting position Will automatically act toconnect the driving means with the movable parts.

In Witness whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name in the presenceof two Witnesses.

' RALPH J. ALDRICH. Witnesses:

CHARLES G. Corn, T. L. TOBIAS.

